When do you stop buying loads of presents for the kids?

karenccs67

My daughter was 18 in Sept and we have told her that this is the last year that she will be getting lots of pressies (£200 each child), she has an 11 yr old brother who will continue to get his £200 worth until he is 18 too. At 18 theyre adults and as adults we don't get lots of pressies.

msgnomey

£200????????????????????????????????????????????????

each????????????????????????????????????????????????

blimey, my DD will think she was brought up in the wrong house!!!

1 big pressie £20-£30 and a stocking with bits

£50 total TOPS!!

HelenKA_2

A colleague of mine was also saying how much time it takes up doing these things for her 3 sons - I suggested she gave them the bits she had already stashed (as a starter for them) after they pulled names out of a hat to do a santa stocking up themselves for each other.

Silaqui

Same thing with me and my sister, as we got older the amounts and types of gifts just changed. As kids we'd get lots of cheap toy type things, as we got older it turned into fewer, slightly more expensive gifts. Now (me aged 25, her aged 20) we get one 'main' present of around £30 and a couple of bits, and we buy the same back for our parents. We usually choose our main present too!

With five years between us, there was quite a while where my sister would get lots more presents than me, but because she was getting toys still and I was getting cd's/makeup etc, it didn't really bother me. When I moved out at 18 I was getting even less, but tbh I was more interested in all the family getting together than the presents!

I'd tell them to suck it up and if they can't be adults about it then they can drink lemonade instead of beer on xmas day!

msgnomey, I agree - my mum and dad spend about the same on us! £200 quid each is LOADS, Karen!!! Your lucky kids!
x

csh_2

msgnomey wrote: »

£200????????????????????????????????????????????????

each????????????????????????????????????????????????

blimey, my DD will think she was brought up in the wrong house!!!

1 big pressie £20-£30 and a stocking with bits

£50 total TOPS!!

I usually spend about £400 on DD (13) , her 'big' present is usually something like a console or big electrical .Last year was a laptop, this year its an LCD telly for her bedroom. All the wee bits on top brings it to about £400.

Mutter_2

Good thread smartpicture. Helpful replies too.

My daughter is freezing in her shared house. I visted last week and it's BRrrrrhh. So am ordering a Slanket, Only fools and Horses box set and bits and bobs for a stocking. She is 21 and working Christmas Day in Operating Theatre 'till 8pm.

The fact she has to work has killed a friendship with a recently aquired internet friend, who I invited to stay over Christmas with her daughter.

Someone has to staff the Hospitals.
Why the four of us could'nt move to Boxing day, I have no idea.
Never mind.

Veggy roasts on laps, watching Dell Boy 'aint too bad.

Minimum_Wage_2

there is a knack to this and as a parent i have had to go through the same thing but i got wise to it and survived!
1, when they start to notice that one has got more then you tell them that they have both had the same spent on them just that you couldnt buy them both the same things.
2, next year you tell them again that they have both had the same amount only that one has had more expensive things and tastes.
3, then as it gets harder then you tell them that you didnt know what to get them so you gave them money as well.

bestpud

It's been a natural progression in this house.

It started when they began having more expensive presents so got less of them.

Now ds(19) has a stocking with basic bits and a bigger present and dd(17) has a stocking the same and a bigger present than ds who has left home.

Dd(8) still has a stocking and a few bigger presents.

Personally, I think your younger 'child' has a point about the extra two years and you should carry on until they are the age the eldest stopped getting them. But that doesn't seem the popular option on here for some reason... :think:

I guess I'm quite fair with my children and tend to make sure the things they get roughly even out over the course of the year.

I know when ds and dd were smaller, I started out making sure they had roughly the same number of presents and then moved to roughly the same value once they were aware how much things cost.

I don't have quite the same problem now as dd(8) is the only littlie here but I still try and match roughly what the other two had at her age.

Spendless

We got less presents when we moved out of the family home, which was in the same year but I'm older than my sister -though I'd still say it worked out evenly as my parents were more affluent when she was getting older then when they'd just got me (younger, lower paid jobs).

I'd not thought about it in relation to my own kids, we cut down on the volume we bought a few years ago cos we have several relatives who always buy more than 1 item.

NoAngel

There's six years between my sister and I and we both stopped with the big bagfull of presents at the same time! (she was about 24, I was 18) I don't think I minded too much, as she went on to have children and now all the presents go to them, which is still fun for me. Doesn't stop her getting sulky when she doesn't get much and her kids get all the fun- just no pleasing some people!

I'm 23 and this is the very first year that I'll have been earning a full time salary (just started work in Oct. after being a student), so I finally get to treat my parents, buying them a digital camera for £200. I'm not expecting anything big but it'll be nice to treat them for a change!!

Funny how differently people do things!